The Over-the-Counter Medicines Market in Poland

Dorota Lasota (), Dagmara Mirowska-Guzel and Mariusz Goniewicz
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Dorota Lasota: Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Warsaw, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland
Dagmara Mirowska-Guzel: Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Warsaw, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland
Mariusz Goniewicz: Department of Emergency Medicine, Medical University of Lublin, 20-081 Lublin, Poland

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 24, 1-9

Abstract: The market of over-the-counter drugs, so-called OTC drugs, is a dynamically developing market driven primarily by self-medication. Their use does not require consultation with a physician, and the patients themselves decide to take them. The distribution of OTC medications in the pharmaceutical market in Poland is diversified. These drugs could be purchased at a pharmacy but also at a supermarket, gas station, or via the internet. The low involvement of public funds in spending on drugs, a relatively small percentage of pharmacy sales of reimbursable prescription drugs, and the difficult access to physicians or general consent to drug advertising all create ideal conditions for creating demand for these drugs. Among the European countries, Poland also has the largest share of OTC drugs in the entire pharmaceutical market, and the percentage of OTCs (without supplements) in the whole drug market in Poland continues to grow. Unfortunately, the non-pharmacy market for the sale of OTC drugs is not adequately controlled in practice, and Polish legal regulations regarding the sale of medicines outside pharmacies are among the most liberal in the European Union. However, this does not change the general attitude of consumers toward purchasing OTC drugs. In fact, further growth of the OTC drug market is forecast. Self-medication will undoubtedly play an important role in the trends which may shape this market in the coming years.

Keywords: over-the-counter drugs; OTC drugs; drug market; drug sales; pharmacy; side effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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